2 room schoolhouse in Indiana

Carr High School - Weddleville High School, Medora Indiana

Date added: June 03, 2023 Categories: Indiana School

The school was constructed in 1857 on land given to the "inhabitants of Carr Township" by George W. Carr the previous year. The first classes in the new school were taught in March 1858 and classes continued to be held in the school until 1934.

On June 21, 1856, the stockholders of the Carr Township High School Association met "at the site fixed upon to erect a suitable building for a high school in Carr Township, Jackson County, Indiana". George W. Carr was clerk of the meeting and was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees for the school. The site was 1.32 acres given to the residents of the township by George W. Carr and his wife Fannie a short distance west of the newly-platted town of Weddleville. Carr had served as president of the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850-51. He was a state representative who had served in the General Assembly six times between 1838 and 1849, the last two years serving as Speaker of the House.

Construction on the building began in 1857. Originally it was intended to be a one-story building. However, the decision was made a short time later to increase the size of the building to two stories. Shares in the building were sold at twenty dollars per share to cover the cost of the additional floor. In March 1858 the first term of instruction was conducted and while it was in session, work began on the second story. Upon completion of the building, the township took over the expense of the building and hiring faculty.

It is unclear exactly when the school began to accommodate teaching elementary students in addition to high school students. A 1929 history of Carr High School by Homer B. Turrell in The Medorian states that in the 1880s the high school was going strong and primary grades were taught in the lower room at that time. Instruction continued in the building until 1934. In 1940 the Lutheran Federation of Jackson County began using the building for church services and at a later point another congregation held intermittent services in the building until 1964. The building remained vacant and largely unused until the Weddleville Cemetery Association began phased work to preserve the school.

Building Description

Carr High School is a simple, brick, two-story, gable-front building set on rolling terrain about one half mile west of the unincorporated town of Weddleville in Carr Township, Jackson County, Indiana. The building, approached by a long curving driveway through an open field, is adjacent to a rural cemetery. Agricultural and forested land comprise its general setting. Its bracketed entablature along the flanks and in returns on the gable ends of the building provide evidence that Italianate taste had arrived in southern Indiana by 1857 when the school was completed. However, its square-headed window and door openings demonstrate the persistence of vernacular Federal/Greek Revival notions of style. Except for replaced window sash and the insertion of stone lintels and sills on the first-floor openings, the building has endured relatively few alterations since its completion.

The school, which measures 24' by 40', rests on a coursed quarry-faced limestone foundation. Its walls are constructed of soft, red, handmade brick laid in common bond with every eighth course being headers. The brick was fired locally. Some of the brick, particularly adjacent to openings, recently has been repaired. Three tie bars with face plates are evenly spaced across the north-south elevations between the first and second floors. Two tie bars with face plates at the second floor and attic level appear on the east and west elevations.

Today the building's roof is sheathed in metal. However, a historic photo indicates that in the late 19^th century the school had a wood-shingle roof. Bracketed wood entablatures terminate both the north and south elevations with returns on the gabled (east, west) elevations. Most of the brackets on the north and south entablatures have survived but some are missing from the returns and raking friezes on the gabled ends. Although the entablatures are currently painted white, in one historic photograph the brackets appear to have been painted a darker color for contrast. A simple, square brick chimney extends through the peak of the roof close to the west end of the building. This chimney is no longer functional. In a historic photograph, a chimney in approximately the same location appears but seems to have been more rectangular in dimension.

Window openings occur on the north and south elevations. All windows measure 73" by 37". On the north elevation, three windows and a doorway that gives access to the second-floor stairway are distributed across the ground floor with a window above each opening on the second floor. Ground-floor openings are shuttered while second-floor openings are covered with plywood. A historic photograph shows that a six-over-six double-hung sash filled each window opening while a paneled double door with five light transom filled the doorway. The same photo reveals that originally a header course of brick occurred immediately above each opening on both floors. All of the windows had wood sills. Today, the ground-floor windows on both elevations have quarry-faced stone sills and lintels that exceed the dimensions of the openings. The six-over-six sash that appeared in the historic photo has been replaced by two-over-two, horizontally divided sash. The doorway also has a quarry-faced stone lintel and has been extended at its foot so the opening is closer to the ground. The addition of the stone sills and lintels probably accounts for the modifications in the brickwork noted above.

Eight window openings, four on each floor, appear on the south elevation. On this elevation too, the ground floor openings are shuttered while the second-floor openings are covered in plywood.

A 55" by 90" doorway that gives access to the ground floor is centered on the east elevation. Its double door with five light transom configuration closely match the north elevation door as it appeared in the historic photograph. A single, plywood-covered window with quarry-faced stone sill and lintel is centered above the doorway at the second-floor level. The west-facing gable end does not have any openings.

The interior consists of one large room on each floor with the second floor room accessed by means of the 77" wide stair at the building's west end. Small cloakrooms are located in the stair hall on each floor. The interior walls are lathe and plaster and floors are wood planking. Doors and windows are trimmed with wide, painted wood boards. A hole in the middle of the first-floor ceiling accommodated a stove.

In recent years, the school has received a new roof, some of the brickwork has been repaired, interior plaster repaired and painted on the first floor and the floor painted. Windows with the replacement sash have been restored to functional condition.